THE UK's largest specialist credit broker The Mortgage Group has announced it is creating more than 100 jobs at its call centre in Crewe.

Forty full-time and 80 part-time positions are up for grabs at the refinancing firm's branch on Crewe Business Park after a £1m investment was ploughed into expanding the premises and workforce by the company.

The news comes after another call centre in the town - British Telecom's directory enquiries office in Queen Street - is to close before December, forcing its 35 staff to transfer to the phone giant's other centres.

The Mortgage Group has launched a recruitment drive to fill the vacancies in the run up to Christmas, advertising the posts both locally and nationally.

The call centre, also the regional office for the north of the UK, employs 50 staff in its telesales operation.

The two-floor site can house 160 workers and is one of four branches across the UK which together employ over 700 people.

Successful applicants will be trained up to talk to potential customers and take applications over the telephone.

Recruitment officer at the Crewe branch Victoria Arnold said: 'We're looking to fill the vacancies as soon as possible.

'We employ people from all walks of life and have already had a good response.

'Applicants should have a lively and confident personality and stay cool in a fast-paced environment.

The firm, whose workforce manages and administers more than £500m of secured loans every year, now hopes to build on the remarkable success the Crewe office has had over the past 12 months.

It contributed £14m of a recordbreaking £85m of mortgage business dealt with by the firm for October alone.

Regional manager Chris Cartwright said: 'The response we've had in the past from people from the immediate and surrounding areas wanting to work for us has been fantastic.

'We are immensely impressed with the quality and calibre of people of varying ages who are now working with us and long may it continue.' Any one interested in the job vacancies can call Victoria Arnold on 0161 386 8290.